The Strength of Love
by LadyMiriamele
Summary: Boton and Keiko decide to reveal their relationship to Yusuke. CONTAINS YURI! Don't like, don't read.


Title: The Strength of Love

Author: LadyMiriamele

^Standard Disclaimers Apply^

*Feedback Welcomed*

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WARNINGS: This fic contains girl/girl relationships. If you do not like that, or it bothers you, then please do not read my fic. Sending me emails saying you didn't like the fact that I made the characters gay will be a wasted effort. I'll just laugh at you. =P

The night flew swiftly upon ebony wings. Stars hung in the sky, creating a surreal dreamlike canvas of bright colors. The moon moved in and out of the translucent clouds, creating a sacred dance. The air held a pleasant cool wind, which caressed the trees. Everything about that night was perfect. Especially her. 

Keiko watched from her window as Boton's form appeared in the sky. She flew with the grace of a shooting star, dangerous and yet perfect in every way_. My shooting star,_ Keiko thought to herself as Boton finally reached her bedroom window. Quietly, the blue haired spirit guide entered the room and sat upon Keiko's bed. 

"I've missed you," Keiko said as she took a seat beside Boton. 

Boton responded with one of her beautiful grins. "I've had a busy day, but I couldn't get you off of my mind."

Keiko gently undid Boton's ponytail and allowed her hair to flow free. "You should really leave your hair down," she told her as she ran her hand through the blue tresses. "You're so...beautiful." Keiko suddenly let go of the hair. She was still shy of her attraction to Boton. It was a hard concept for her to grasp, being in love with not only a spirit guide for the dead, but also a female. At times she even felt ashamed of her feelings. But whenever Keiko looked Boton in her eyes, everything just felt so right.

Boton smiled and took Keiko gently by the wrist. "Keiko..." she whispered tenderly. "I want to kiss you."

Keiko blushed and turned her face away. "O-okay," she stammered. 

Boton leaned over and moved closer to Keiko, her eyes digging deeply into her soul. She brushed her lips against Keiko's gently at first, easing the inexperienced teen toward comfort. Then, as Keiko moved forward a bit, Boton deepened the kiss.

Keiko had never experienced anything so wonderful before. It was beyond words, what she had felt. She didn't see any fireworks. She didn't see the dazzling colors that she read about in books. Rather, she _felt_ it. She felt the fireworks within her heart, her body, traveling through her veins. She _was_ the color, responding to Boton's own colors which radiated from her. Through that kiss of pure love, the two amazing colors came together, formed a collage of magic. It was something Keiko never wanted to let go of. 

Briefly Keiko wondered why she never felt anything even remotely related to that experience with Yusuke. But she pushed the thought aside and continued to kiss and hold Boton.

She had never been so happy, so complete.

***

"We have to tell him, you know."

Keiko sighed heavily. Outside, dawn was just embracing the earth, casting beautiful shades of pink, orange and purple into the oncoming day. Boton lay in her bed beside her. Everything was so perfect. Did she have to bring that up now?

"I know," Keiko finally responded after a short pause. 

Boton began to trace the feature's of Keiko's face with her fingertip, outlining her lips, nose and eyes slowly. The contact sent tingles throughout Keiko's body. "How about today? Let's get it over with."

"I wish we just didn't have to tell them..." Keiko snuggled close to Boton.

"And sneak around all the time? Keiko, I can't. I can barely keep a secret as it is, and you want me to hide this? I want to be able to let everyone know how happy we are. I want the world to know." She held her tighter.

"But Yusuke..."

Boton huffed. "You can't protect him from the truth forever. And you certainly cannot lead him on like this. It can't be too bad...He'll get over it, eventually."

"Today then." Keiko released another sigh. "After school we'll tell him."

Boton kissed her on the head. "It'll all be fine. You'll see."

***

After half a day of classes---Yusuke had skipped the other half---nothing could make him as happy as he was to see Keiko walking toward him. He expected to be chided for skipping class, but to his surprise, Keiko didn't mention anything about that. She seemed distracted and strangely distant.

"Yusuke, Boton and I need to talk to you," she said without a greeting. 

Concern began to push away his early happiness. "Is everything okay?"

Keiko attempted to give him a reassuring smile. "It will be."

She led him without another word to a nearby park. Yusuke's mind did its best to guess what was going on as he followed her. He hoped it was nothing too serious. When he spotted Boton, he noted that she was lacking her usual giddiness.

"What's going on?" he asked.

Keiko looked away as Boton spoke. "Yusuke, we both have some news for you."

"Yeah?"

She seemed to fight with herself for a moment, trying to put her thoughts into words. "Keiko...She...Keiko and I...are very much in love."

He laughed. He figured it was a joke. It had to be. Keiko and Boton? Yeah right! Keiko belonged to him. She was his everything, his soul mate. Sure, they weren't "official" yet. He had yet to ask her out on a date. But they were extremely close and their relationship was definitely beyond friendship. He was sure of it. With him around, Keiko wouldn't want any other. And Keiko was definitely _not_ a lesbian.

But when he looked up and saw the two of them looking at him intensely, their eyes shining with complete seriousness, he knew he was wrong. The truth crashed upon him harder than that car had a while back. Keiko and Boton...? His mind screamed.

"Keiko!" he exclaimed frantically. "I thought you and I---"

She looked as if she wanted to sob. "I'm so sorry Yusuke. I care so much about you, but my feelings don't go beyond friendship."

"But we were perfect!"

"We aren't a couple. We are good friends."

He laughed. "Are? _Are?!_ Keiko, no. We _were_ good friends."

"Yusuke!" Boton exclaimed in surprise.

"I never want to see either of you again." His voice was harsh with anger.

At this, Keiko began to cry. 

"How can you say that?"

"_Never_!" He said, his eyes dark. "Go, now! Disgusting lesbians."

"Come on, Keiko," Boton said, throwing a glare at Yusuke. She led the girl out of the park and proceeded to walk her home. "Just give him some time. He has to cool down...It'll be okay."

"I love you," Keiko whispered. I love you so much, I let go of my friendship with Yusuke...

"I love you too. So much."

***

A week had passed and Yusuke showed no signs of cooling down. He completely snubbed Keiko at school, ignored her in the halls, and even whispered about her behind her back. Her classmates knew of her relationship and she lost most of her friends as a result. Things were bad between them, and both Keiko and Boton knew they would never improve. Her relationship with Kuwabara had come to an end as well. He was very homophobic and wanted nothing to do with her. Kurama hadn't completely forgotten about her. He remained friendly when he ran into her, but she never was close to him to begin with, so there was no real friendship between them. And Hiei...Well, he could care less. He didn't like humans as it was. 

After that week had gone by, Koenma summoned Boton to his offices. She went to him, hoping he would give her the time off she had requested. She needed time to be with Keiko. "Yes, Koenma-sama?" she asked after entering his office.

"I see you have requested vacation time." He said, sucking on his pacifier. His mood was not a good one, Boton could tell.

"Yes, that's right."

"Why, if I may ask." He raised an eyebrow.

"I just need some time to myself," Boton replied, smiling hopefully.

"Hmmm...By any chance would you be spending this time with Keiko?"

Boton's smile faded. So Yusuke told him before she had the chance to. Well, that was fine. She just hoped he saw how irrational Yusuke was acting about the whole situation and tried to talk some sense into him. "Yes, in fact, I do."

Koenma turned to her, his eyes narrowed. "Boton, you're fired."

"What?!" she exclaimed, unbelieving.

"I cannot have this here. You cannot be a spirit guide and be involved with a human. It is strictly against the rules of the spirit world. If I allow you to break that rule, soon all spirit guides will be breaking the rules and everything will be out of hand. Spirit guides and mortals are from two different worlds. They shouldn't mix." He took a deep breath. "Either I forbid you to see Keiko again, or I make you mortal. I cannot bear to see you unhappy, and I know you'll be unhappy without her. There are also other reasons...Boton, I..." he trailed off, an unfamiliar emotion displayed in his eyes. "Look," he stated firmly, not finishing what he was originally going to say. "I'm making you mortal. End of story."

She loved her job, she truly did. Part of her wanted to scream, beg that he never do such a thing, never take her job away. That job was apart of her. And a mortal? How could she ever survive being a mortal? But Keiko's face loomed in her mind. 

As soon as she was out of the office, she broke down. 

***

"We both lost something we loved," Keiko said that night, wiping away tears as Boton held her close.

"I know..." Boton's voice was small, as if she was attempting to hold back emotions. 

"What do we do now?" Keiko asked. She had so many questions. Where would Boton live? What about telling her parents of their relationship? How different were things going to be, now that the two things they held dearly were taken away? What was going to happen to them in the future?

"I don't know," Boton replied, her voice sounding as though she was lost in thought.

"But it's worth it, right? Our love with worth the sacrifice."

"Of course," Boton assured her. 

But deep down inside, Boton had her doubts. She was terrified of being mortal and even more terrified over the fact that she had lost all of her friends. 

"Look at me," Keiko said softly. Boton obeyed and her eyes met Keiko's gaze. "I love you more than anything. You make me complete. And nothing will ever change that. We'll be fine. Everything is going to be okay."

As Boton looked into Keiko's beautiful eyes and listened to her truthful words, she suddenly knew that it truly was worth it. Her love with Keiko would be enough for the rest of her mortal life, and even after. Together, they would survive their sacrifices.

"Keiko...I love you too..."

****

End

Notes: I took a break from yaoi and wrote a yuri fic. Boton and Keiko make such a cute couple, in my opinion. =) Let me know what you thought of the fic!

***Many thanks to my beta, Kitt. ***


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